Tribute to H, trend setter

Back before this whole "green" initiative became popular, H was leading the way. He didn't do it because it was the "cool" or "trendy" thing to do... because it definitely wasn't. H was practicing green out of habits he had learned early on in life. Back then, it was called thrifty and not green.

Let's take a look at some of H's green initiatives:

1. H always followed us as kids (and even as adults) from room to room turning out the lights. I could always count on hearing something about conserving lights and power under his breath as he went about flipping switches.

2. As demonstrated in this picture, H has been wearing many of the same clothes for many years. He's not a big believer in buying new outfits or shoes. I recall many times my mom asking H to get some new clothes. At times he would get "new" clothes but only as a hand-me-down from me or my brothers. H is a big believer in reduce, reuse, & recycle (Jack Johnson, the 3 Rs).

3. Until 1991 H drove an old white Toyota pickup truck. I think it was from 1978. As the paint chipped off of the old truck, H would use touch-up paint to keep it looking fresh. Unfortunately, the touch-up paint looked like white-out and didn't completely match the original truck color. As kids, we were embarrassed of being seen in this truck and would often duck on our way to school or elsewhere. The truck soon received the name of the "duck truck" (we also went duck hunting in it, which in a way is a form of self-sufficiency and reducing our reliance on the supermarkets to provide us with food).

4. Electric lawn mower - I think this speaks for itself... H reduced his reliance on gasoline and emissions. As a kid, I was always afraid of running over the cord and electrocuting myself.

I'm sure there are many more examples of H's green initiatives but I'll let those that know H chime in and relive those moments too.

Thank you H for being the trend setter that you are. I now find myself chasing the kids from room to room turning off the lights grumbling the same thing. I hope you have a good birthday weekend. I love you.

Dora comes in handy

"Come on vamanos, everybody let's go..."

You all know the song. It's from Dora the Explorer (for those that haven't been around children in the past decade). Dora is bilingual and helps teach kids bits and pieces of Spanish. I am grateful to Dora. I'm confident her teachings have not been in vain and will come in handy on our next journey...

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, I've been offered a 1-year rotation in our Spain office in Madrid. We're still waiting on the details, but feel this is an opportunity we cannot pass up.